


Reflekdoll : The Do-Over

by miraculouslycool



Series: Miraculous Rewritten [6]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Episode: s03 Poupeflekta | Reflekdoll, F/M, Fix It Fic, Fluff, LadyNoir - Freeform, Mister Bug, adrienette - Freeform, let marinette live jesus christ, no character salt, no one is demonised for their actions, still very salty about that episode
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:35:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23361829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miraculouslycool/pseuds/miraculouslycool
Summary: What really should have went down in Reflekdoll....No character bashing, no character salt. It IS a fix-it fic, but I'm not going to demonise anyone's actions, just show and acknowledge their consequences.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Juleka Couffaine/Rose Lavillant
Series: Miraculous Rewritten [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1647421
Comments: 45
Kudos: 226





	Reflekdoll : The Do-Over

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this on a dying battery which only had 25% left.  
> Enjoy!

How did her day end up like this?  
Marinette’s hands were still shaking . She could not believe Adrien was in HER room, giving her and her friends directions for a photoshoot. 

Why didn’t Alya listen to her? She did want to ask Adrien out but not like this! Her so called advantage of being in her element was failing miserably. She had basically ended up screaming at Adrien when she accidentally called him “Madrien”, a slip up she could have easily gotten away with. 

But he didn’t even flinch at her word vomit. He never did. Either he was growing used to it, or he was too disgusted by it and would prefer to not tell her because he was just that nice.  
“Looks like everything is all ready!” Alya gave a thumbs up as she continued filming. Marinette dared to take a peek at what exactly was going on in her room instead of practicing really bizarre breathing exercises, and saw that she wasn’t only one in the room having a panic attack. 

“Juleka? What’s wrong?” Mylene asked worriedly.  
“I..uhh...” Was all she got out. Marinette frowned sadly. Her poor friend was shaking like a leaf! Rose was rubbing her arm soothingly, but it didn’t seem to help. She felt slightly guilty that no one, herself included had taken into account Juleka’s shyness before doing this.

“Are you sure you want to do this, Juleka?” Marinette asked softly, walking up to her. Any words of comfort that she could offer seemed to fly past Juleka’s ears, because she was still shaking uncontrollably.  
Marinette moved her hands to hold her arms gently. “You know it was very nice to you to help me out with my designs.” She encouraged.  
“Hurry up! We have only less than an hour before Adrien has to leave!” Alya hissed. 

Marinette turned to look at her incredulously, giving her a pointed glare. “You’re being really insensitive!” She tried to convey without words, but her best friend didn’t seem to get the hint.  
“It’s okay! I could always do this another time.” Adrien said gently. “You know, if my father lets me, that is.”  
“You know,” Marinette said to Juleka. “It’s fine. These are my designs anyway. I should be the one to model them.” She smiled accommodatingly at Juleka. Before she could offer her an apology about all of this basically being sprung on her, Alya had let out a gasp of surprise and had dragged her away from Juleka towards Adrien.

“Of course! The great thing about your designs, Marinette is that it’s suitable for both girls and guys!” Alya said excitedly. “And we have a girl, and a guy! What do you say, Adrien?” 

“Sure, if it helps!” He said with an easy smile that was so inviting Marinette felt a thousand butterflies pool in her stomach. 

“Here, give this to Marinette, Juleka!” Alya grabbed the hat off of her head and threw it at Marinette.  
“Go go go, you two! Get changed, oh- and here are your jewellery, created by the one and only Marinette Dupain Cheng!” She pushed Adrien behind the screen with the energy of a kindergarten teacher on her first working day.

“Marinette, what are you waiting for?” Alya asked her.  
Adrien was already beginning to get changed, but Marinette hadn’t moved from her place.  
“You know, Juleka? You could still keep wearing my designs. Maybe once you are feeling better we could take more photos of you? I do have extra copies of the clothes.” Marinette suggested.  
“Yeah, that’s a good idea!” Mylene said.  
“What do you say, Juleka?” Rose looked up at her girlfriend, intertwining their hands together.  
“Uh...I, I’d rather not. I don’t want to.” She mumbled.  
“Are you sure?” Rose asked.  
“Yeah. Thanks Marinette.” She smiled sadly.  
“Okay-“ was all Marinette could get out before Alya pushed her behind the screen. “That is all good and well, but you’ve still got more time to ask Adrien out now!” She whisper shouted.  
“What’s that? Did someone call me?” Adrien asked behind the screen.  
“NO! NO ONE DID!” Marinette yelled, her cheeks flaming red. “You just dress on getting carried- I MEAN- carry on getting dressed!”  
She heard him chuckle. He wasn’t the only one. Alix was clearly holding back a laugh too. “Okay then!” They heard him say.  
\-------------------------------------  
“Okay, you guys, now turn your backs to each other-that’s it!” Alya said, holding up her camera. “And done!” She said, a few burst shots later.  
“You’re a natural at this, Marinette!” Adrien smiled at her.  
“Oh – not as good as you.” She said, watching her friends warily as they all crowded around Alya’s phone to see the pictures already taken. “Wait, forget I said that- that’s not a fair comparison.”  
“Yeah, but, you did get into the flow pretty easily. And you understood Alya and my instructions much quicker than I did when I did my first photoshoot ever. Give yourself some credit.” He nudged her shoulder. 

Adrien had noticed that she was unusually on edge today, but she was always that way in front of him. And for the life of him, he could not figure out why. He was always cautious about what he spoke in front of Marinette, because he was sure he was too forward with what he says and he often scared her off. Right now, he couldn’t remember the last time he had this much fun in a photoshoot.  
He even managed to get a laugh out of her by telling her a really corny joke (He was almost tempted to make it a cat pun, but after what happened with Ladybug that morning, he could never be too careful).  
“Oh alright. I guess I am good at modelling. So good I’m even better than you.” She said slyly, going over to grab a drink of water from her bottle. 

“Gabriel Agreste will be more than displeased when he finds out his only offspring was outshone by....dare I say it, an amateur.” He said in such a perfect imitation of his father that Marinette was actually impressed.  
“Do you...do you really think I’m that good?” Marinette’s voice went from sassy to shy and unsure.  
“Of course!” He said without a moment of hesitation. “Not just the modelling, these designs are incredible! My father would be impressed and I of all people know what a harsh critic he can be. He already uses your derby hat as an example to the younger interns at Gabriel’s.”  
Uh oh. Marinette’s cheeks had become even redder than Ladybug’s suit. “R-really?” She squeaked.  
“Don’t sound so surprised, Marinette.” He said warmly. “You seriously are incredibly talented. No one has ever doubted it. I never have.”  
“Yeah...” Marinette suddenly seemed to deflate a bit as she turned to look at her friends discussing ideas for new poses.  
“Marinette? What’s wrong?” Adrien asked, concerned.  
“I may be a talented at being a designer...” she wrapped her arms around herself, making herself look much smaller than him than she already was.  
“But..?” He asked.  
“But I guess I’m not so talented when it comes to being a good friend.”  
Adrien almost sputtered at that. He would probably be the first in a huge crowd to scream about what an amazing person Marinette was. She was always ready to help no matter what. She would drop literally everything in her workdesk if it meant being there for her friends instead. She would stand up against anyone, ANYONE, if it meant that person was hurting the people she loved. Adrien definitely thought he could learn a thing or two from her.  
But right now....he figured she wouldn’t really benefit from hearing her praises, even if he wanted to sing them to whoever would listen. Something was clearly bothering her.  
“Why do you say that?” Adrien asked, unconsciously stepping closer into her space, hoping to comfort her.  
“I still feel bad about leaving Juleka behind.” She said sadly. “Despite what she said about not wanting to come, I know she was disappointed, and I feel guilty about doing this when it should be her in my place. 

“If it makes you feel better, I should have done something too.” He said. He didn’t really know Juleka that well, but he did know how upset she was when they left. “You talked to her Marinette, you comforted her. You offered her another option that she could be comfortable with.” He hesitated at first, but then placed a hand on her shoulder. “And you’re still worried about her. You’re a lot of things, Marinette. But ‘a bad friend’ isn’t one of them. As much as I feel for Juleka, I also think you shouldn’t beat yourself up over something that wasn’t your fault.”  
Their genuine conversations were few and far in between, but Adrien treasured and cherished them all dearly.  
She smiled gratefully. “Thanks, Adrien. Maybe after all this is done I could reschedule-“  
“Both of you!” Alya snapped a picture of their surprised faces. “Don’t move. This is perfect. Actually, it could be more perfect if you two put an arm around each other’s shoulders.”

Marinette wanted to KILL Alya. 

“Are you okay with that Marinette?”  
ADRIEN wanted to put an arm around her shoulders?? ADRIEN wanted to touch her?? Was she dreaming??  
“Uh, sure!” She gave what must have been the weirdest grin ever as she felt his arm snake around her shoulders and rest loosely there without gripping her too hard. She was immensely grateful for that. 

“Yes! Exactly! You two are an amazing pair!” Alya kept on shooting compliments while clicking away. “Perfect! I’ve never seen anything like it!”  
They saw Alix face palm behind her.

“Well,” Adrien leaned towards Marinette. “It certainly beats being forced to think about ‘mama’s a-spaghetti’ all the time.”  
Marinette let out a loud laugh and Adrien grinned down at her as Alya snapped a picture at the right moment. He definitely liked making her laugh over making her nervous.  
His grin died away when they all heard screams coming from the grounds of the Champs de Mars. 

“What’s that?” Marinette shifted in his hold, and both of them gasped when they saw a fifty foot pink monster that looked vaguely familiar stomp towards them, stepping down on buildings like they were blades of grass.  
It was also shooting pink laser beams everywhere and turning everyone into copies of-  
“Reflekta?” Marinette and Adrien said at the same time.  
“Why is she so big?” Adrien wondered out loud.  
“There you are, my BFFS!” Juleka’s voice boomed from the monster.

\------------------------------  


‘Okay, so maybe this was a little unconventional.’ Marinette thought as she looked for the button extend Chat Noir’s-HER staff. But they could work with it.  
She let out a war cry as she hit the unrelenting monster with the now extended staff. Her force had been enough to knock the monster off balance, but Reflekta managed to get it back on its feet.  


“Well, m’Lady Noir.” She heard a flirtatious voice from behind and turned to see a red clad figure land next to her. “Looks like you’re having the easy part today.”  
Granted, she was still annoyed at him from this morning, but she couldn’t help but notice the extra added details in his suit. The extra black accents mingled well with the red. And he actually had boots! And shoulder pads! And it showed off more of him where his torso was. Of the abs-variety. He looked - Of course she always knew he was good looking, she just never bothered to acknowledge it. He wore her suit much better than she did.  


Lady Noir shook her head out of these thoughts. They had a villain to defeat! She couldn’t be thinking about their fashion choices! (She definitely didn’t mind having a braid though)  


“Focus, Mister Bug!” She rattled off the first male version of ‘Ladybug’ that came to her head. “Use the yo yo as a shield.”  
He tried spinning it hesitantly, only to knock himself in the face seconds later.  
Lady Noir facepalmed hard. “Don’t hold the yo yo so close to your body! Otherwise you’ll hit yourself!”  
“Yeah, yeah, ok.” He grumbled as he hopped off the building before her. She followed suit.  
“Just my luck, looks like I’ll have to capture two akumas.” He remarked.  


“No, Reflekta is controlling the monster from inside it. This robot she is controlling is a sentimonster, created by the owner of the peacock miraculous.” Lady Noir repeated one of Master Fu’s lessons. “You’ll have to capture Hawkmoth’s akuma and the peacock’s amok.”  
“Amok?” He said, confused.  
“It’s a feather. Like the akuma is a butterfly.” Lady Noir said before leaping and attacking the sentimonster again with her staff. She found her mark this time. It stumbled and Mister Bug retaliated with a powerful kick.  
The sentimonster landed on its knees, and before the two of them had even landed, it was back on its feet again. “You two have made a huge mistake by challenging Reflekdoll!” Reflekta yelled as the monster shot another beam.  


“Look out!” Mister Bug hollered as he pushed Lady Noir out of the way. The two of them rolled on the ground a few meters away, with him on top.  
“Well, well, well.” He said cheekily. “Look like old habits die hard. Even when the roles are reversed.”  
“Whatever.” She scoffed, but made no move to get away from him either.  
“Stop running away, you cowards!” Reflekta’s booming voice made them turn their heads in her direction. He got off of her, giving her a hand as well.  
“Well, running towards her isn’t doing us any favours.” Mister Bug said.  
“Can you manage or should we switch back?” Lady Noir asked.  


“What? I’m totally capable of doing this!” He said casually picking up his yo yo. “I just need to use my Lucky-“  
“NO!” She caught his arm. “Don’t do that! You don’t know enough about your opponent yet!”  
“Run!” He said, and both of them narrowly avoided a beam headed their way.  
“Are you sure you always wait before you use your Lucky Charm, m’lady?” Mister Bug asked as he scaled up the Eiffel Tower using his yo yo. “Maybe it could offer us a solution only if we use it.”  


“Are you saying I don’t know my own power?” She retorted. “Yes, I am sure! “  
When they reached the first landing of the Eiffel Tower, he peered back at the monster trying to reach for them. “Hmm, or maybe not. If I could get a mirror or something, I could deflect her own beam back at her.”  
“ ‘If’ you get a mirror? That’s not how it works!” She was definitely getting more frustrated with him now. “The Lucky Charm doesn’t give you what you want!”  
He pulled her away from another one of the monster’s beam towards them. He wanted to say something about her focusing on fighting the villain instead of lecturing him, but he held his tongue.  


“We’ll see.” He said, releasing her. “Watch and learn! Lucky Charm!” He called, and to his immense delight, a mirror landed in his hands. “A mirror!”  
He wanted to laugh at her priceless look of utter betrayal. “Beginner’s luck!” She said irritatedly.  
“You’re just jealous of my mastery, that’s all.” He ran towards the tower’s edge, just in time to see Reflekdoll about to shoot another beam. He held the mirror in front of his head, and the beam correctly deflected off from it, but he was only half correct. The beam did hit Reflekta , but didn’t affect her, only stunned her for a short few seconds.  
“Huh?” He thought, but grimaced when he saw her gearing up for another attack, and he was dragged back by Lady Noir before he got hit again.  


“Very effective, Mister Bug.” She said sarcastically.  
“But I thought-“  
“Need I remind you that the Lucky Charm only gives you a part of the solution? You have to work out the rest of the puzzle yourself! Using your head!” She said angrily.  


“Hey!” He shot back. “I’m just as new to this as you are! Stop patronising me!”  
“I am new to this? You are the one who hit yourself with the yo yo not five minutes after transforming!”  
“What, do you think I stand around telling you to do your job when I’M Chat Noir??” He said crossly.  
“Hmm, just stop me if you’ve heard this before,” She said, and did a terrible imitation of him. “I want a mirror! You watch and learn! Lucky Charm! Yay, I got a mirror!”  
“I don’t talk like that! And if I were in your place, I would actually be focusing on distracting the villain instead of lecturing you!”  


Out of the corner of her eye, Lady Noir saw a very unusually shaped butterfly outline appear around Reflekdoll’s face. “Of course, Hawkmoth.” She heard before another beam struck.  
She spun her staff around before it caught both of them. “Lecture or not, you’ve only got five minutes before you transform back,” She scrunched up her face before adding, “Buggaboy.”  
She saw his face twist into a scowl. Sweet, sweet revenge. “Why don’t you try actually helping me instead of making fun of me?” He said angrily, before freezing and running away from her side when he saw a beam headed for him.  


“Apparently, Buggaboy doesn’t have a sense of humor.” She retaliated, referencing their spat that morning.  
“Looks like you’re the one with the clown costume now!” He snarked as he scaled up the Eiffel Tower with Reflekdoll’s beam hot on his heels.  
“Oh you bet! I’m the cunning, ultra charming, Lady Noir! Cataclysm!” She called, grinning as her hand filled with destructive energy. Wasting no time, she lunged at the monster, slapping her ring hand hard on it.  


“There, that should do it.” She said triumphantly, waiting for the metal to crumble into rust.  
It never did. Instead, the monster cracked visibly, but it was still functioning.  
Wait, no it wasn’t. The head jerked around, and it couldn’t move its limbs, and from the screams that she heard from Reflekta, she had definitely lost control of the monster. Before she could comprehend what was happening, she was looking at a large, broken, malfunctioning hand that jerked in her direction and threw her off the monster.  
“Ahhh!” She yelled as she fell down towards the ground.  


“Gotcha!” Mister Bug’s voice resounded in her head as he caught her bridal style right in time.  
“Thanks.” She said breathlessly before getting down. He nodded, and for now it seemed like  
their argument was put on hold. She noticed he had strapped the mirror behind his back.  


“Is this...is this normal?” She asked him, looking at the broken sentimonster which was somehow creating more damage than before.  
“I don’t know. I’ve never cataclysmed a sentimonster before.” He frowned.  


“I messed up.” She sighed, looking at her beeping ring.  
“Well, I messed up too. Atleast you managed to do some damage to the villain.” He sent her a small smile her way.  
She returned it, before springing into action. “Come on. The least we can do right now is atleast capture the akuma. Then we can think about the amok.”  


Both of them ran up to the sentimonster, which by now had travelled quite a few meters away from them.  
“We are going to have to make the monster stop if we are going to have any chance of touching it. I’ll trip it up with my staff.” She informed before extending it.  
“Wait.” He said, without pausing from their sprint. “Press the second paw print from the right.”  
“This one?” She pressed it, and to her surprise, the staff separated into two.  


“Now you’ll have one to fight with after you use the other one against the monster.” He explained patiently.  
“Thanks Buggaboy.” She said and he rolled his eyes.  


She extended one of the staffs and slid in between the monster’s legs, and held it horizontally above her head.  
There was a sickening crunch as the monster fell down onto the street, its limbs still twitching awkwardly.  
“Awesome job, m’lady!” Mister Bug ran over to give her a high five, which she returned. They climbed over to the monster’s mouth, which was clearly visible to them despite its landing on its stomach.  


Lady Noir forced its mouth open, using the staff as a stopper, and Mister Bug grabbed the thrashing Reflekta with his yo yo, and they jumped off of Reflekdoll just before it got up again.  
“Well, we got the akuma.” Mister Bug said as he set her down a few paces away.  


“You two could use a makeover. Your costumes are disgusting!” Reflekta cackled as she tried to shoot them with her bracelet again.  
“Atleast show a little gratitude!” He broke her bracelet wide open with his yo yo and the akuma flew out. “And I think we look good in these costumes.”  
“Don’t forget to capture the akuma!” Lady Noir reminded him.  
He blinked at the fluttering purple butterfly. “Oh! I have always wanted to do this!” He spun his yo yo. “Playtime’s over, akuma! Time to de-evilise!” He caught the butterfly with his yo yo and released it. “Bye, bye little butterfly!” he chirped excitedly.  


“Well, I guess you don’t make a terrible Ladybug at all.” Lady Noir smirked at him as Reflekta turned back into Juleka.  
But their relief was short lived, because a beam split through the space in between them, and turned a confused Juleka back into Reflekta.  
“Looks like Reflekdoll is coming back for us, quick let’s get out of here!” Mister Bug took Lady Noir’s hand.  
“Find a safe space to hide, Juleka!” Lady Noir called behind them as Juleka wisely chose to run away.  
Their earrings and ring beeped. “We’re about to transform back! What do we do??” Mister Bug said nervously.  
The beams were getting more erratic by the minute. They were already having a couple of close calls.  


“Look out!” He suddenly felt himself being thrown forward, and he groaned, nursing his head. “Why did you do that- m’lady!!!” He shouted in shock as he got up face to face in front of a transformed Lady Noir.  
She took the hit for him. Just like he had done several times for her.  
“Correction. Only you are going to transform back.” She said tersely.  
“Let’s get out of here.”  


He grabbed her waist and pulled her close as he lassoed them onto one of the flatter buildings.  
“I thought that we could switch our miraculouses back.” Lady Noir said, looking serious even in Reflekta’s comical attire. “But your ring has disappeared, so-“  
“Why did you do that?? We both could have totally escaped, m’lady, you didn’t have to sacrifice yourself for me!” He burst out. Suddenly, being on the other end of this situation didn’t seem like a walk in the park.  


“I had no choice!” She argued. “If I hadn’t intervened we both could have-“  
“That’s not the point!” He interrupted.  
“Then what is?”  
“The point is that I’M the one who is supposed to take hits for you! I’m the fall guy!” He tried so hard to not let his voice break.  
“What if it had been something worse?? What if instead of laser beams that turned you into her copy it was laser beams that killed you on the spot?!” His chest heaved with emotion. “I would have never forgiven myself for letting that happen!”  


She didn’t answer for a moment. “Now you know how I feel everytime you do this for me.”  


“Why did you do it?” He asked instead, because he had no answer to what she said.  
“WHY did I do it?? Because you are the one with the power to fix everything now! If you had gotten transformed-“ she paused, a look of realization dawning on her face.  
“-that’s why you do this, don’t you?” she said softly, her eyes downcast.  


“Well....not just to win, and definitely not for fun.” He said seriously. “I do it because....” he struggled. “Well, rather me than you.”  


He saw her shoulders sag momentarily before she reached up on her tip toes and kissed his cheek. “I’m really sorry I was so mean to you.” She said sincerely.  
“I’m really sorry I wasn’t paying attention.” He smiled at her, though he knew he was definitely blushing now.  
His earrings beeped and she shoved him behind the chimney in alarm.  


She was just in time, because Adrien transformed back before she could see. “Hey, Tikki.” He greeted as he caught her in his palms. “Hello.”  


“Do you have anything to feed Tikki?” He heard his lady say.  
"Camembert.” He winced. “Is that okay with you?”  
Tikki only smiled kindly and nodded as he handed her a piece.  


“Wait, my Lucky Charm disappeared!” He said in alarm.  
“Don’t worry!” Tikki said, chewing. “You can always call for it again, now that you know what you want.”  
“So.” Lady Noir said offhandedly. “A lucky charm can give you what you want?”  
“If you know what you want, yes.” Tikki said to her owner.  
Maybe what I wanted wasn’t the right choice after all.” Adrien said dejectedly.

"No, that can't be it." Lady Noir said forcefully. "The Lucky Charm is never wrong. Maybe we are supposed to use it a different way." 

"While you cataclysmed the sentimonster, I looked around the area, but your Lucky Vision didn't really work with me." He said. "I tried it a bunch of times." 

"Eh...the Lucky Vision isn't really a superpower. It's my own thought process- wait... that's it!" Her voice became more excited. 

"That's what?" 

"You're trying to think like ME. That's why it's not working!" 

"What do you mean by that?" 

"Well, you know how my Lucky Charm always involves a bunch of objects that seemingly have nothing to do with the plan?"

"Yeah..."

"Because that's how I do things! I make up convoluted, complicated plans! But you are not like that. You are much more straightforward than I am. You prefer doing things the simpler way." 

"So....you are saying I should think of a simpler plan?" 

"Exactly." 

"Hmm..." He peered over the roof at the rampaging monster. "We know that the only way to get the amok is inside the monster. So we have to find a way in. The mouth is not an option. We'll only get hit by its beams instead. There has to be another way in." 

Then suddenly, Reflekdoll tripped and fell over, causing a huge caving in the roads. 

That was when he saw it. "Look! I see something round! It looks like....a giant screw." 

"I really can't see it properly from my angle here, so I'll have to take your word for it." 

"We need something like, a giant screwdriver-or a giant coin atleast, there's no way I can carry a screwdriver- wait, the mirror is like a coin! We could use that to get inside!" 

"I knew you could do it!" She cheered. 

"Tikki, spots on!" He transformed. "Lucky Charm!" The mirror fell into his hands again. 

He stepped out from behind the roof. "Come on, let's go." 

She stepped close to him as he held her waist. "I was wrong." She said. 

"Hm?" He said, turning to her. Their faces were only a few inches apart. 

"You'd definitely make a great Ladybug." She said, grinning. 

"And I normally don't give out my feline license to just anybody, but it looks like you passed the test with flying colours." He said, and she laughed as she snuggled closer to him.

He swung them over to the monster, all the time try to ignore how familiar and beautifully haunting her laugh was. 

"Hold on to me." He advised as they landed on the monster's head. 

Together they slid the mirror into the slot and screwed it around, and like he had predicted, it opened. 

"It worked!" He said happily. 

"The amok is inside the controller! Which is shaped like a hair clip!" He noted.

"Hold on to this, and keep your footing!" Lady Noir pushed the mirror and the slot to him. She jumped in and with her force, the monster tilted on its feet to the ground. 

Once she was sure it was immobile, she vaulted a high kick on the dislodged hair clip and a blue feather flew out into the air. 

"Catch the amok before it flies away!" She called from inside Reflekdoll. 

"Not leaving here without you, m'lady." He held out a hand towards her and pulled her out safely. 

He caught the amok just as she sat down on her heels next to him on the fallen sentimonster. "Bye, bye little feather." He said. Grabbing the mirror, he threw it into the air and shouted, "Miraculous Mister Bug!"

The ladybugs flew around, cleansing everything from the buildings, to the roads, to the people, and finally to the transformed Lady Noir. 

"Pound it!" They fist bumped. 

Her ring flashed, signalling them to get away. 

"Might I just say, your catchphrases are perfectly timed and intonated." She said teasingly as they jumped across buildings. "Did you like, practice them in your room or something?" 

"I would normally joke about it, but what you said was the complete and honest truth." He affirmed. 

"You put the weeb in 'dweeb'." She snorted.

"Hey! As true as that is, I would prefer if you didn't steal my lines, m'lady. My heart is the only thing available for your thieving attempts." 

She laughed out loud, and he felt that familiar jolt again. He KNEW he heard her laughter somewhere else before.

They dropped down as soon as she pointed out a deserted crossroad. 

"M'lady, wait." He caught her hand before she ran off to detransform. 

Marinette knew the ring was beeping away, with only two paw prints left. She opened her mouth to saythat there wasn't any time, but the look in his green eyes stopped her.

He was shuffling his feet, and his stance was quieter and shyer, two adjectives she would never associate with Chat Noir or Mister Bug. 

She also never knew he actually had green eyes. 

"What is it?" She asked, curiously. She didn't want to leave her friend without hearing him out completely.

"I'm sorry about this morning. I shouldn't have been goofing off in battle like that. Now I know you never have time to make any jokes, your role is pretty stressful, huh?" he said bashfully, one of his hands rubbing the back of his neck, wearing an earnest expression she had only seen before on-

No. That couldn't be. Marinette shook her head. Chat Noir or Mister Bug acting like how Adrien Agreste acted in a few instances in front of her didn't mean anything. 

She also wasn't supposed to be curious about who he was behind the mask. 

It just had to be a coincidence that the two green eyed boys in her life were a little similar. It didn't mean anything. 

"My role being stressful doesn't make yours any less important." She moved her hand to intertwine it with his. "I'm sorry I said that you have it easy. I'm the one who can't take any risks in battle, which is why all the risk taking falls on your shoulders. I didn't realise that until the very end. We're both very different people-" 

"-and that's why we make the best team ever." He grinned, and left her hand to hold up his fist. "Pound it?" 

He expected her to make a snarky comment that he would usually make, or even just laugh back. 

He did not expect her to throw her arms around him in a tight hug. 

"You'd make a great bug, but I couldn't ask for a better Chat Noir than you." She murmured into his shoulder. 

He wrapped his arms around her as well, savouring her touch in the limited time they had. "Thank you Ladybug." He said, sincerely.

Their miraculouses beeped again, and they released each other, each wearing soft smiles on their face. 

"Well, I better get running before your Kwami misses you too much." 

He scoffed. "As if. He probably missed his cheese more than me."  
\--------  
"Thanks for helping us out, Adrien." Marinette said gratefully as the rest of the girls walked into the bakery. 

She could still hear Alya profusely apologizing to Juleka over and over again and her becoming more embarrassed than ever as she accepted them. 

"No problem, Marinette. I haven't had this much fun in a photoshoot since.... actually this is only photoshoot in my modeling career that I actually enjoyed." 

Marinette didn't know what to say to that. On one hand, she felt terrible for him, on the other she felt flattered. "Uh... congratulations?" 

He didn't seem to notice her discomfort. "Thanks!" He chuckled. 

"Well, I should go, Alya told me about an exclusive scoop she managed to record of Ladybug and Chat Noir, even AFTER getting transformed." She sighed good-naturedly. "That girl is relentless." 

"Don't really think they were Ladybug and Chat Noir, though. I never knew Chat Noir had really long braids." He joked. 

Marinette was internally congratulating herself. She was getting better and better at talking to him! She didn't stutter over her words once! 

"They must have swapped their miraculouses!" She forgot to play dumb. 

Adrien looked confused. "I thought you went into hiding and didn't see the battle at all?" 

Marinette stiffened. OF COURSE she would forget to be careful. She should have known better than to jinx herself. 

"Heh, Alya couldn't wait until she came to my house to show me her video. That, and I just assumed they swapped." She lied quickly. 

"From what I saw, they were struggling a lot, weren't they?" He said, and she shrugged and nodded. "Figures, mustn't have been easy trying to get used to powers they don't have experience with."

Marinette smiled to herself at Adrien's understanding attitude, though she wasn't surprised. She always knew from day one that he was very non-judgmental. 

"I guess, it's good that it happened." She said absent mindedly.

"What do you mean?" 

"Maybe this will be a reminder to Paris that even though Ladybug and Chat Noir are powerful superheroes, behind the mask and suits, they are still very much human like the rest of the world." 

Adrien hummed thoughtfully, thinking back to the moments he saw a very stressed out and irritable Ladybug during battles. He had played it off as her being too serious. 

Marinette's words made him realise that he knew better now. He should have known better earlier too.

The two of them jumped at the car honking outside. 

"I should go." He said sheepishly. "Thank your parents for the food for me!" 

"I will. Bye Adrien!" She smiled brightly at him. 

There it was! That familiar jolt again. He was no stranger to that feeling. He felt it all the time around Ladybug. 

Why was it happening with Marinette? Twice in the same day, that too?

The car honked again, and Adrien dragged himself outside before Marinette thought he was staring at her like an idiot.

Had he been so distracted he zoned out for a good few minutes there? 

"We can go home now." He said, closing the car door. 

He pulled out his phone to check his messages, and wasn't surprised to see two concerned ones from Natalie, questioning why he was late. 

Typing a quick reply to her, he turned off his phone, only to have it light up again with a message from Alya. 

Curiously, he opened it up, and he saw that she had sent him a picture of him and Marinette posing with her designs. 

He didn't even notice his facial features softening at the candid shot. It must have been the moment where he had made her laugh with his lame spaghetti joke. 

She had her eyes closed and she was laughing with obvious mirth. She looked exceptionally radiant. And then there was him. He didn't have eyes for anyone but her. It was like he had forgotten the camera even existed, a complete violation of the most obvious rule of being a model. 

In fact, the photo didn't even look like it was one of two people modeling a fashion designer's work. It looked like two people lost in their own world, having no acknowledgement of anyone's existence except for each other. 

Alya sent him a text after that, and that brought him back to reality.

_"Thought you might want to keep this one, Sunshine. ;)"_

Adrien's eyes widened. 

That was it. 

Now he knew where those stupid reactions with Marinette came from. 

She reminded him of Ladybug. Her laugh reminded him of Ladybug. When she smiled, it was like he was looking at Ladybug herself. 

'No, stop it, Adrien.' he chastised himself. Ladybug wouldn't want him scouting around for her identity. He had to keep himself for being too curious. Forcing his image of Ladybug on Marinette would be crossing too many lines, and Marinette deserved better than that. 

Besides, he had seen a pink sentimonster turning everyone into clones with horrible fashion, he had seen a long-haired Ladybug in black, he had seen himself wearing red spandex, and he encountered several weird things on a daily basis. Marinette's actions reminding him of Ladybug was just another one of those things. 

Taking his time to drink in every detail of the beautiful picture Alya had perfectly captured, he replied to her. 

_"I do want to keep it, actually. Thanks, Alya!"_

**Author's Note:**

> God, this was the ONLY episode in what was a pretty great season that I could not stomach. Marinette getting unnecessarily blamed, her acting completely OOC and mean to Mister Bug, and him acting like a dumb butt monkey, which he is NOT. This episode only highlighted the importance of Ladybug's powers and just passed Chat's powers off to be the 'comic relief'. 
> 
> Sorry, I'm normally never this salty about an episode, or any episode really. 
> 
> I hope you liked it!


End file.
